The history of the Dove workshop in Banwen is an essential part of Labor and Women's history in Wales. It is also a model of success for community organizations.

About the Author&colon;

Mair Francis was born in Barry in 1948 and is currently the Senior Parliamentary Assistant for Dr Hywel Francis MP since his election to the constituency of Aberavon in 2001. They have been married since 1968.Mair Francis is a qualified graduate teacher since 1970 when she studied at Cardiff College of Art and Cardiff University where she qualified as a Ceramics teacher. She taught in primary, secondary and special schools and in evening classes in London and south Wales between 1970 and 1985.In 1985 she led the successful campaign to establish the DOVE Workshop, a women's training centre in the Dulais valley. This arose out of the experiences of the local women's support group during the 1984-85 miners' strike in which she was actively involved. Her history of DOVE completed in her spare time, will be published in March 2008. During the 1980s and 1990s she was Manager of DOVE and is currently its President. In 1995 she was awarded a postgraduate degree, a Masters in Economic and Social Studies, following two years of part-time study at Swansea University. Her subject was the Aftermath of the Miners' Strike: A South Wales analysis.In 1996 she was chosen as Welsh Women into Europe in recognition of her work in developing education and training partnerships with other women's organisations from coalmining areas in Europe.Throughout her adult life Mair has been active in a wide range of social and political campaigns, principally on equality, carers and social justice issues at local, Welsh and European levels. It was on the basis of these experiences that she was selected as a Labour Assembly candidate in 1999, being placed at the head of the Party list in South West Wales.Having been a carer of her son Sam for over 16 years, she played a major role in the successful passing of her husband's Private Member's Bill, the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004.Mair Francis' current post is to manage the busy parliamentary office for Dr Francis Her duties include research, administration, arranging visits by constituents and other visitors from Wales and abroad and parliamentary monitoring.Mair and Hywel have two surviving children who are both qualified teachers and four grand children.